Baba Mike Nelson is more than committed to his craft as a drummer. He is beyond dedicated to the Yoruba culture and faith where his sacred drumming originated. As the title of his upcoming performance appropriately expresses, he is sworn to it. Baba (or father, in the Yoruba language) Mike was initiated into a global brotherhood of drummers called Omo Ana. The term describes the children who follow the spirit and force that is believed to inhabit the drum. “I have taken an oath through the preservation of drum culture and that oath involves a ritual that only few people enter into,” said Baba Mike, founding director of WorkingTheSpirit, a St. Louisbased international consortium of music and performing artists. “It is a salute to my teachers, and it is my responsibility to preserve and protect and pass it on to the next generation. Baba Mike is echoing the beat of his sacred drum as a local call to arms in the arts. As he was maturing in his passion for the drum, Nelson had local cultural icons like Katherine Dunham, Mor Thiam, Oliver Lake and Oliver Sain as references of individuals living for their art. He has resolved to extend that lasting impression of work ethic in the arts to present-day members of the creative community. “To take an oath and be sworn to something, it is really a love n it has to be something you have deep love for,” Baba Mike said. After growing up around the Black Artist Group, or BAG, he worked with BAG II at the Scott Joplin House in the event BAG and Baba Mike Talk with Drums. A feature written on the event in the American inspired him to adopt the concert series’ title. His work with BAG II and inspiration from the original BAG has compelled Baba Mike to create an ongoing collaborative effort for the arts that he hopes will transcend concentration and ethnicities. “People of all ethnicities and ages are moved by the drum, and I wanted to make this like a welcome mat and find collaborative ways to let them know to come on out,” he said. “We need to have that voice in this music.” The performance offers a glimpse into Baba Mike’s sacred drum experience, with elements of jazz, groove and performance poetry by the great Curtis Lyle. Baba Mike plays trumpet, flügelhorn, conch shells and assorted percussion, including the bata drum. On recent dates Aaron Parker played alto sax and flute, Mondel played congas, Ariel played bass and David A.N. Jackson provided additional percussion and vocals. “Some of it is trance-inducing, and some you can’t stay in your seats,” Baba Mike said. His is presenting Sworn to the Drum as a collective effort to illustrate the need for artistic collaboration and the ability to have success working together. Just as passionate as he is to bridge the artistic gap with collaboration, Baba Mike wants to connect with the St. Louis population transplanted from other nations. “We want to reach into the immigrant communities, African immigrants, Asian immigrants n all of them n and give them a way that they may not have to practice their art, hone their art and join us,” he said. that we want to promote to people,” he said. “That in itself will create more unity. And that is what I’m trying to do.
MY MUSICAL INFLUENCES A native of St. Louis, "Baba" Mike Nelson has earned the title of "Omo Ana" or sacred drummer in a global brotherhood of musicians entered only by ritual initiation. Nelson continues the sacred traditions of Bata drumming, a music form that has survived for over 500 years, from the land of the Yorùbá in Nigeria to Cuba to the United States and beyond. He studied jazz trumpet and arranging under BAG artist Oliver Lake, David Hines and Lester Bowie. He studied Djembe and West African Music from master drummers Mor Thiam from Senegal and Mamady Keita of Guinea. He also studied and performed steel drum music with master drummer Oswald Moses from Trinidad. Nelson has performed with the St. Louis Symphony, China National Orchestra and Aska Kaneko as well as a list of well-known recording artists. Mr. Nelson has served on faculty at COCA (Center of Contemporary Arts, St, Louis) and at the Better Family Life's Urban Rhythms program. Music takes him all over the country as a performer and lecturer, including a long-standing gig with Los Angeles-based Emekeke, a Cuban folkloric music ensemble directed by Filipe Garcia Villimill of Mantanzas, Cuba. His current projects include developing a formal method of playing conch shells with Downbeat Award winner jazz trombonist Steve Turre and collaborating with Zimbabwe Nkenya on an exploration of sacred Bata drumming with sacred Mbira music. ..
Hello WorkingtheSpirit thank you for being a positive force in this world. Music is one of the few things left that still has the power to bring people from different cultures together in harmony. Always feel free to contact me. HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
